Icarus
by blak-cat23
Summary: Korra falls everyday and Asami could only try to be her wings.


Asami woke up to the dinging sound of her alarm clock. It was an interesting little contraption she was considering putting to market (Varrick would surely demand it were he still the majority holder), but doing so she would have to reveal exactly how she managed to always be awake before Korra and why. Well Korra suspected it, she was sure.

Asami, clad in her purple robe, stepped out of her room and lightly pushed open Korra's door. In a room, darkened by thick curtains, lay the Avatar in the corner. At the base of her bed on the floor were two small bodies she recognized as Ikki and Meelo. They took to sleeping in Korra's room as often as she would allow it, and though Korra had denied Asami request to share her room with her, she was glad to see Korra was not resting alone. Jinora, now fully recovered from her tattooing also took to sleeping in the room and spending her days reading to Korra. Asami had settled for moving into the room next to her.

It became clear quickly on the airship that something was very wrong with Korra. She slept often and barely moved. When she was awake, she struggled to sit up, her face an unnatural shade of pale.

The worst part, however, was the void inside Korra's eyes, once the color of the ocean they were now a blank and cloudy sky.

"She has quite a bit of tissue damage," the healer said when they'd gotten her to a hospital in the city.

Outside the press swarmed the building as soon as it was leaked the Avatar had arrived in critical condition. By day two the hospital was surrounded with candle light vigils as it became known Zaheer was back in prison, his compatriots dead, and Korra had been his tortured victim for the sake of the Airbenders.

"It will take weeks," the healer said, "Many weeks of rest and then therapy and—and even then I cannot guarantee her physical abilities will be as they were."

"Can't you do anything?" Mako demanded. Lin shot him a look.

"The poison was forced through tissue in her legs and arms. Layers and layers of skin and, more importantly, muscle, were torn through and, in many cases in her system, torn apart," she said, "Not to mention she's mentally and emotionally not ready to heal herself, the experience was quite traumatic according to what she was willing to reveal to our in house therapist."

In the next room Korra lay sleeping, watched over by Pema and Rohan, both somehow seemed to have forgotten how to smile.

"She is exhausted, her blood stream is still releasing toxins, and even her heart retained damage from the poison," she said, "I suggest bed rest, food and water often, proteins and colorful vegetables. After three weeks we can see how movement therapy will go."

"None of this leaves this room," Lin said dangerously, "The last thing that poor kid needs is the press hounding her."

Two weeks later Korra was a lump in the shadows of her room, still sound asleep. Asami fought down the instant frown that appeared on her face when she thought of Korra dreaming of Probending again or flying on the glider only to wake with a chair waiting for her.

And Asami always made sure to be awake before Korra, so as to not keep the Avatar waiting in bed long.

Asami entered the kitchen to make tea and found it occupied by Tenzin, tea already brewed and steaming from his cup. His bruises were gone now, scratches healed over.

"Is she awake yet?" he asked.

"No, hopefully she sleeps late today," Asami said and Tenzin nodded.

"Mako and Bolin woke early and headed inland. They're picking up Fire Ferret fan mail addressed to her. They think it'll help cheer her up a bit," he said.

Asami recalled the moment Korra first emerged from the airship. They'd not seen much of her and not been allowed to see her, given only snippets of her progress. And when they set foot back in Republic City and turned back to see the ghost of Korra hunched over in a wheelchair, breathing heavily through a struggle, Asami felt her heart slam into the ground and watched the sun disappear from Bolin's face. Mako looked ready to explode, with tears or anger she wasn't sure.

The first week Mako and Bolin had taken to sleeping outside her room in case she needed something, when Korra found out, she sent them away. When Korra was having a particularly difficult day they bunked on the floor of Asami's room.

"She's not my daughter," Tenzin said quietly, "But it felt like it watching her—"

No one dared to call it what it was, the image and the scene of Korra _dying_ in her father's arms.

"I've known her since she was a little girl, I trained her, watched her grow when I was able to be down South," he said, turning his tea in his hands. "Ever since Zaheer came for her when she was young, I suspected what he wanted. I never wanted to see her put through that."

Asami seemed to be on the receiving end of many of this pent up confessions in the past two weeks. Three nights after they'd come back from the hospital Mako had admitted to Asami at three in the morning that he was still in love with Korra and wanted nothing more than to rip Zaheer apart piece by piece so he could feel what she was feeling. Bolin had cried, not joke tears, not fake tears, he'd truly sat quietly and cried.

"When I first met Tonraq he asked me if she would ever be allowed friends, a family one day," Tenzin said. "My father feared becoming the Avatar so much that he ran from home and was trapped for a hundred years in ice until my mother found him. No one was more excited to be the Avatar than Korra, now I fear she will somehow go the same way as Aang."

"The concept never seemed fair to me," Asami said, "She didn't choose any of it, none of them did."

"No," Tenzin said, "She was chosen. Perhaps now she resents Raava picking her, or perhaps we've all learned exactly why Raava put her faith in the rambunctious and blunt Waterbender from the South."

Asami sipped her tea and considered it. She didn't jive overly well with the spiritual talk of all of it simply because she didn't understand it all. She had been confused to hear Raava was another name Korra answered to. That she was a spirit in a mortal body, that the Avatar State was a tool for Korra and now an awful weapon for Zaheer.

"What about you Asami?" Tenzin said, "I imagine you didn't expect all this when you agreed to sponsor their Probending team."

He meant it jokingly, but it ended on a cynical note.

She hadn't. She knew the Avatar had joined Mako's team and upon first meeting her she was impressed and little starstruck. But she didn't imagine it would get to here, she didn't imagine the pain she could be in watching that same Avatar crumble in her father's arms, unable to even look at him with her own true eyes as they glowed with the light of Raava.

"She's like my sister," Asami said.

That was all she needed to say.

Then it was quiet the rest of their time, sipping at tea until it Asami was finished and excused herself to go check on Korra.

And unfortunately she was awake far sooner than Asami had hoped she was going to be. She was upright in bed, Ikki and Meelo still fast asleep and snoring loudly on the floor. Korra was still rubbing her eyes and yawning a bit, thankfully then she had not been sitting up alone for too long.

"Hey," Asami said quietly not wanting to wake the children into an early morning frenzy.

"Hey," Korra echoed back.

Korra had gotten the hang of sitting up on her own fairly quickly, though she masked often how much pain the exertion put her in. She did however seem a bit more alive this morning, tired but her color was back a bit.

"You hungry? I didn't eat yet," Asami said, grabbing the chair from the corner and pulling it to the bed.

"I want to try walking today," she said, not looking up from the blanket. And suddenly her color was back immensely because her cheeks were going red.

"Korra," Asami said sitting down next to her on the mattress, "You know the healers said they didn't want you trying it on your own. You've got another appointment next week, they'll probably start you on the therapy then."

Korra took to playing with the lose strings on her blankets and swallowing. Asami sat quietly, hands in her lap.

"I've been resting for two weeks, I've been eating a lot more, I just want to see," Korra said, "How do we know I can't if no one will let me try?"

"I just don't want to see you hurt yourself," Asami said, placing her hand over Korra's.

"The healer said physical pain is part of the healing."

"That's not what I meant."

Korra met her eyes and Asami saw they were pleading, every part of her was begging for Asami's help. All the walls and all the toughness she used daily to get her way was broken down and disappeared.

"Okay," Asami sighed, "After breakfast we'll try."

And Korra's face light up brighter than she'd seen it in weeks. Her smile was very real, stretching all the way up to her eyes, which were slowly swimming with color again.

She scooted to the edge of the bed, took a breath, and then pushed down on her arms. She lifted herself to a standing position and balanced there for a moment as Asami brought the wheelchair behind her. Asami held her tightly as she slowly sat down. Korra continued smiling and even making conversation with Asami who felt her stomach get emptier and emptier.

* * *

After breakfast they were dressed and out on the island, away from the White Lotus, away from the acolytes and the children. Korra and Asami were alone in a small tree grove, the wheelchair locked as Asami stepped back.

"Okay," Asami said," Just—try to take a few steps towards me."

Korra took a breath and repeated the process from the bed. She'd gotten better at it, the use of her arms was coming back better than her legs. Her first attempt at lifting herself out of bed ended in a lot of pain, a lot of yells, and many calls for help.

But here Korra pushed herself up with ease and only minimal grimacing. Her face was bright and her eyes were wide. But Asami felt like she was watching a brick being dangled by a strand of hair.

Korra was on her feet now and let her hands go out to balance, resting on an invisible surface in the air.

"Okay," Korra said, determined. She took a deep breath through her nose and lifted her eyes to meet Asami's.

In that moment, for the briefest second, she looked like her old self again, prepping for a Probending match, ready to complain about Raiko, and Asami couldn't help but smile.

Korra bent her knee the tiniest bit and let out an awful groan. Her forehead was quickly beading over with sweat. Her arms began to shake but she held them fast into the air at her sides. Her smile was gone but determination remained.

With her bent right leg, she began to lift. And Asami saw to her horror that she couldn't get it off the ground and still Korra moved it forward, dragging it across the ground.

"Korra, I don't think—"

It was too late. Her foot caught on the ground and the momentum, small as it was, carried the rest of Korra with it.

And she began to fall.

Her arms went out to break the fall.

And then Korra was stomach down in the dust of the island, limbs shaking. She groaned as she began to pull her arms back to her in an attempt to push herself off the ground.

"Korra," Asami said, feeling her stomach turn to ash.

She dropped to her knees in front of her, cursing every second she let this go on, blinded by Korra's smile, she wanted to preserve it as long as possible and she'd just witness it break, possibly forever.

She pulled Korra's shoulders and saw the Avatar covered in dirt all over her front. Her muscles shaking, arms and legs rendered useless again. The only clean place on her was the streaks on her face starting at her eyes and stretching all the way down her neck.

Korra brought her shaking hand to her face, the heel pressed into her forward as she sobbed and Asami pulled her in tight. Korra made no response to the human contact.

"Korra, it's not forever," she whispered.

"It feels like it," she said sloppily.

"Korra it's okay," Asami said, pushing her back to face her. "It's okay to need help and it's okay to be scared."

"I'm the Avatar!" she tried to shout. "I don't even know if that's true anymore."

"You're _Korra_, and here, covered in dirt and shaking," Asami said, her own voice cracking, "You are stronger than I've ever seen."

"I just, it just…"

"Korra you can talk to me."

"The Airbenders, they're going to be the ones keeping peace and balance. Amon and Vaatu and Unalaq all said the Avatar is useless now and what if—what if this is the Spirit's way of telling me they're right?"

Her head dropped in another sob. The back of her left hand came up to wipe the tears but only succeeded in smudging the wet dirt across her face.

"I don't know spiritual stuff," Asami said, "But I do know even if the world is changing, it has nothing to do with what's happening right now. You're hurt because you stood up to Zaheer."

"Zaheer said the Avatar—"

"Stop talking about the Avatar and start talking about you," Asami said.

The question was dead in the air: _and who exactly am I if I can't be the Avatar? _It was not something Asami knew how to answer.

"You know I love you Korra," Asami said, "And Tenzin and Mako and Bolin. _You_."

Korra said nothing and Asmai was not inclined to force it, she stayed that way and let Korra cry as she might or be still as she might.

"Don't tell anyone," Korra whispered, "Please."

Asami pushed Korra forward again. She brushed the remaining dirt from Korra's face. She then placed two hands on either cheek and put a kiss to Korra's sweaty forehead. And then she pulled back and smiled.

"Give me your arms," she said.

Korra lifted her arms and Asami turned them palm up. She then placed her own arms right on top of them, gripping her just below the shoulder and nodded for Korra to do the same. Once they were both gripping Asami sat up a bit.

"You push, I'll pull," Asami said.

And then they did so Asami pulled Korra's arms while Korra pushed up, like Tui and La and after a minute Korra was standing again. Asami let go and allowed Korra to stand on her own.

"We can do this together,"Asami said and Korra nodded, leaning back to return to her chair.

Asami kneeled in front of her.

"Don't ever forget why this happened Korra, it wasn't the Spirits or the universe. You gave up everything to protect the Air Nation, and doing that is stronger than any muscle in your body could ever be," she said.

And she meant it. Zaheer was right about one thing, her name would echo through history for what she'd done, what she'd been willing to do. This would be the legend of Korra.


End file.
